1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an abutment assembly for a dental implant, more particularly to an abutment assembly for use with a dental implant unit including an implant member and a bolt member.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are currently available various methods and systems of dental implants. One such implant system includes an implant member screwed into a jaw bone of a patient at a location vacated by a missing tooth, and an abutment mounted on the implant member, and having a coping portion that is exposed from the patient's gums for coupling with an artificial tooth or crown. Such conventional dental implants are described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,104,797.
Since the abutment is made from a metal material, such as Titanium (Ti), which is less light-transmissible, the abutment may shadow through the artificial tooth or crown, thereby affecting appearance. Therefore, an abutment made from a ceramic material has been proposed. However, the following disadvantages may arise:
1. During a dental implant process, since the space in a vacancy of the missing tooth is limited, and since the abutment must have a lower interface connected to an upper interface of the implant member, the thickness of the lower interface is not sufficient, which may result in breaking of the abutment;
2. Since the abutment made from a ceramic material is harder than the implant member made from a metal material, during mounting and position-adjustment of the abutment on the implant member, the abutment may rub against the implant member to result in undesirable damage to the implant member; and
3. Since the abutment and the implant member are made from different materials, the connection therebetween is not reliable.